About Us

Viviana Alexandrowicz, Ph.D. is an Associate professor in the Department of Learning and Teaching and the executive director of this changemaking for k-12 center. Her areas of expertise and scholarship focus are on the effectiveness of in-service bilingual teacher education, theory, and methodology for teaching English for language learners, internationalization of the curriculum, community engagement, and Changemaking. She developed the TESOL graduate program in 2003. Her current research focuses on a three year study measuring the impact of integrating Changemaking practices into USD's teacher education programs. She has presented at over 60 conferences in the US and worldwide. Professor Alexandrowicz has been a mentor to USD faculty for community service learning and has been involved in the university's community engagement for over 23 years. She is the co-founder of the Open University initiative which provided community members with free access to university courses. She serves on the board of directors for Doors of Change, an organization that is dedicated to solving youth homelessness. She also teaches Changemaking in K-12: National and International Perspectives in Madrid, Spain. Dr. A is part of the founding fathers (and mothers) of LifeLearn, a global organization of Changemakers united by their passion to create a new lifelong learning paradigm.

Dr. Bobbi Hansen teaches courses in Curriculum and Methods in Mathematics, Science, and History-Social Science centered on best practice instructional strategies. Currently, she is a co-investigator for a California grant with the goal of increasing student academic achievement by building sustainable professional development capacities of teachers in two urban school districts in Southern California. Other research projects have included grants from the University of California, Berkeley and the National Corporation for Community Service to study the integration of service-learning into teacher education and an investigation of GLOBE, a worldwide science educational program that unites teachers and students with an international scientific community for the purpose of studying the global environment. As a result of this work, Dr. Hansen was invited to present at the Global Summit on Science and Science Education and in Scotland where she delivered a paper on Problem-based Learning. Additionally, Dr. Hansen was among an international team of educators invited to assist in the development of a new system of schools in the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Abdulaziz Alkhorasi was an international student from Saudi Arabia and a candidate in the master's in TESOL program (Teaching English as a Second Language) at University of San Diego. He recently graduated after completing his capstone project on the experiences of refugee and immigrant background ESL students with cultural sensitivity and culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. He completed his bachelor’s degree in English Language and Translation in 2015 at Qassim University in Saudi Arabia. He then worked as a teaching assistant in two universities in Saudi Arabia, teaching English as a foreign language. In 2018, he was granted a scholarship from his country to continue his education in the United States of America. He worked as a graduate assistant in the Learning and Teaching department at University of San Diego. He developed this (Changemaking Center for K-12 Education) website under the guidance of Dr. Viviana Alexandrowicz. He is currently a volunteer assistant and continues to work on the website with Dr. Alexandrowicz. In the fall of 2019, he started tutoring refugee-background students in an afterschool program at Hoover High School in San Diego which led him to research cultural sensitivity and culturally responsive teaching from the perspectives of refugee and immigrant-background ESL students. During his research, he had a closer examination of the experiences of five refugee and immigrant-background ESL students with cultural sensitivity and culturally responsive teaching. After completing his paper and his symposium presentation, he received a letter of commendation from University of San Diego for the quality of his research.

Gina Choi is an international student from Korea/Thailand and is currently a candidate for the MEd in Curriculum and Instruction with Credentials program. She is pursuing her Secondary Single Subject Credential as well as a Special Education Credential. In 2024, she received her TESOL/TEFL certificate. She also holds a Bachelor of Science in Marine Biology from the University of San Diego. Having grown up in Bangkok, Thailand, she developed a passion for education, change-making, and community work. As an international student her whole life, she brings diverse perspectives, resilience, and cultural awareness, enriching classrooms and fostering global connections. Her drive to become a changemaker agent in San Diego as a future educator has led her to engage with the Changemaking Center for K-12 Education, where she aims to bridge cultures.